Analytics and insights are the key to driving constant improvements at healthcare practices. In late 2019, we conducted a survey of 100 practices and more than 600 patients to better understand the medical billing and payments landscape, along with some of the drivers of patient satisfaction and how they tie into payments and debt. Take a look at our infographic below for some of the highlights and some ideas on how you can start implementing improvements to your practice management software based on what practices and patients need.
Practice and Patient Perceptions Don’t Always Align.
- 61% of medical practices report “pricing or billing issues” as the leading reason patients leave a practice.
- Just 32% of patients said pricing or billing issues were the reason.
Our study showed the majority of patients are somewhat or greatly confused with their bills:
- To a Great Extent: 44%
- Somewhat: 47%
- Very Little: 7%
- Not at All: 2%
Bad Debt/Collections
We asked practices how much time it takes to recover bad debt. A majority of the respondents said 3+ months:
- 0-3 weeks: 9%
- More than 1 month: 14%
- More than 2 months: 21%
- 3+ months: 56%
This lost cash flow could be used for new equipment, technology, education, office improvements, or other needed updates and improvements.
Are You Making Payments (and Payment Collection) Easy?
In our survey conducted in late 2019, 62% of patients said their preferred payment method is credit or debit card. While many people may still prefer that payment method, 2020 has seen a meteoric rise in the number of people using contactless payments.
Online Bill Pay is a Powerful Option.
- 54% of patients make online payments within just 48 hours of receiving a reminder.
- But less than 50% of practices surveyed said they offer online payment options.
Practices that offer online bill pay allow for much quicker and more convenient payments. Our Customer Statements feature automates the process of sending statements, making it easy and hassle-free to collect outstanding customer balances.
Card-on-File Is Beneficial.
One practice in Illinois implemented a card-on-file program and it boosted patient collections and reduced accounts receivable by 28% in just six months. This shows just how important it is for collections and cash flow to get paid for services as quickly as possible. Decline Minimizer, our automated system of updating expired or outdated card information, saves your merchants the time, effort and expense of tracking down the information manually.
Satisfied Patients are Key.
In our study, 60% of practice staff members who said customers are satisfied with payments reported only 0 to 2% of accounts going into collections.
Clear, easy-to-understand statements and helpful billing and payment practices are one of the keys to patient satisfaction and retention.
Conclusion
Delivering excellent quality of care as well as excellent patient experience every step of the way is key. In fact, patients will tell others about their experience no matter what, so it’s important for healthcare providers to provide the best possible care and multiple easy payment methods. For ISVs, providing your healthcare clients with excellent practice management software and payment processing facilitates patient retention and new-patient rate increases without impacting their acquisition costs, ultimately improving profitability. To learn more about our payment processing solutions for the healthcare industry, contact us today.
